China Scrapbook 2004
Trip on the Crystal Harmony
A few patrons in a normally jammed family restaurant, Shanghai Gardens
Legg Mason investment lecture onboard Crystal Harmony enroute through the Taiwan Straits. Note: my GPS reading indicated we were not in the middle of the 30 mile wide Strait but favored the PRC side... disputed by the Capt.
Captain-in-charge personally does the docking in Nagasaki with help of one tug to bring the stern into the dock. Came in against a forward spring line. No wind, no current and I don't know about the tide. Note the simple controls for an 800' ship.
Nagasaki harbor has tall ships visiting.
Atomic Bomb Museum just opened last year. Very moving exhibit, second only (for me) to the Stalingrad Military Museum with lights/sound... and tears. Guide said Americans "showed courage in dropping the bombs that saved millions of Japanese lives that would have been lost in an invasion... and courage by the Emperor to have surrendered." I thought of Robert McNamara's statement that we came six times to a nuclear exchange with the SU in the Cuban Missle Crisis and were saved only by a combination of stupidity and luck on each side.
How the bomb came to be... including its importance in the Cold War.
The expectation is that almost all Japanese school children will take a pilgrimage to this museum.
Ever polite and helpful Japanese guides. Man is a retired lawyer... there are not very many in Japan.
Peace campaign... it is easy to understand Japan's non-military stance.
Crystal Harmony, ship carrying the investment team to research sites in East Asia... bigger than the G-II when I last led this type of group.